The idea of the state has shown remarkable resilience over the last couple of decades, despite assaults on it from neoliberal doctrines and the forces of globalization. During this period, the abiding presence and role of the state has been particularly evident in the contemporary political life of the Asia Pacific region. This article pays special attention to the contemporary Indian state in the context of development. It reflects upon the ways in which the state is experienced, by focusing on questions of marginality, agency and power as they intersect the politics of development. By reading the empirical insights documented within this special issue against a rich trajectory of scholarship on the Indian state, the article argues that there has been a recent qualitative change in the way in which the contemporary Congress-led UPA government has presented itself to the common person. The implementation of pro-poor and more inclusive policies has altered the discursive landscape within which state-society interactions have taken place over the last five years. Importantly, these policies have functioned to reconfigure not only the materialinteractions between the state and India’s marginalized, but also the imagined spaces within which marginal groups renegotiate their relationships with the state.
邊緣性、能動性和權力：當代印度的國家體驗
儘管受到新自由主義教條和全球化勢力的攻擊，國家這一概念在過去的幾十年裏仍然顯示出非同尋常的生存力。國家持續的在場及其重要作用在亞太地區近年的當代政治生活中尤為顯著。本文著重探討在發展情境下的當代印度國家。通過聚焦邊緣性、能動性和權力及其與發展的政治之間的交叉，本文反思國家是如何被體驗的。本文對記錄在這一特刊中的經驗洞察及關於印度國家的丰富學術著作進行了詮釋，並認為當代國大黨領導的聯合進步聯盟政向百姓展現自己的方式有了質的轉變。其所實施的傾向貧民和更具包容性的政策改變了印度的話語景觀，使國家－社會之間的互動在過去的五年裏得以發生。更重要的是，這些政策不僅重新配置了國家和印度被邊緣化人群之間的物質性互動，也重塑了邊緣群體協商其與國家關係的想像空間。
Philippa Williams